This blog will generally be about boomerangs. I need a place to tell about making them, throwing them and collecting them. I'll post when I have something to say.

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Sunday is a day I would rather forget. I would like to describe it as a comedy of errors but there was no comedy involved. My day was filled with mistakes and mishaps. The most notable happened in mid afternoon.

I have a Ryobi wide drum sander. I can do wood up to 16″ wide in it. The thing it does best is smooth out thin sawn wood for making lapjointed boomerangs. I was having trouble with it a couple years back and eventually had to take it to a repair shop. The device to hold the sanding strips had gone bad and they had to entirely disassemble the sander to replace it. Unfortunately a part broke and it took over 6 months to repair. I think my entire bill was over $100. I have barely used it since getting it back.

Well, with everything going wrong yesterday I decide to hide in the garage and play with wood. I had planned to rout some lap joints and glue them up. Then I remembered all the maple I cut at Gary’s. I figured I should sand that stuff down and rout everything at once. First I had to take everything off the sander. I don’t have enough room so a lot got piled on it. I cleaned it off, moved it into the free space and got ready to sand. I turned it on, or tried to. Nothing happened. I switched outlets and nothing happened. It’s deader than a doornail. I was not happy. I tried a couple things to get it going but no luck. With that I shut and locked the door to the garage and gave up.

Today I am thinking a bit more clearly. I don’t understand why as I didn’t sleep well (see, I can’t even sleep right). I remembered when I first bought the sander I had some problems with it running. I think the switch kept going bad. You see this has one motor to operate the drum and another to operate the belt which carries the wood under the drum. There is a switch that controls them starting together. I think one of the motors can be plugged in seperately so I may try that tonight. If that works then I know it’s the switch. Who knows if parts are available for it but I can try to find out. It’s out of production at least 5 years, maybe more.

I did some checking online and it may be the switch, or the circuit board it connects to, maybe both. The switch is $10 and the board $39. I might just buy both and replace them. That should get me back in business again.

Anyone who has a lot of boomerangs runs into the problem on how to store and transport them. The vast majority of my boomerangs are in large Rubbermade totes. However for the stuff I often take to the field, I like to keep them in bags of some sort. I think I scored a great deal Sunday.

Saturday our church held it’s yard sale. Sunday morning it was announced that there was leftover stuff still looking for a home. I decided to check it out, not thinking much could be found in what no one else would buy. As I walked past a stack of old luggage, I spied a small carryone type canvas bag. It looked a bit larger than a case for a laptop pc. I picked it up and said to myself: “Self, this would make a dandy boomerang bag”. The bag has a divider in it, has an outside zippered compartment, another open pouch and a shulder strap. It looked good so I hung onto it.

I looked a bit more and found another just like it, then another. I got three matching bags out of the leftovers and only had to make a small donation to buy them. I really like these bags and want to see if I can fit a divided file case inside. That would be great for my long distance or MTA boomerangs.

I arrive at the field around 1pm and some of the competitors were helping move the bleachers off the field. With that done they set about to lining the field with Aussie Round and accuracy circles. More competitors showed up. I’ll try to remember who but I’ll muss some I am sure. For the guys there was Peter and Adam Ruhf, Barnaby Ruhe, Rich Saidenberg, Ty and Pat, Moleman, Will Gix, Tim Mautsby, the Bower boys, Eric Darnell, Harald Steck, David Hirsch, John Flynn, Gregg Snouffer and Ian Guldner The ladies were well represented by Carly, Zoe, Betsylew and Stephanie. I am sure I missed a bunch of people. The field was ready for throwing shortly after 2pm.

Ian was competing in his second tournament and didn’t even have a catch in his first one. He was looking at putting some points on the board. First event was MTA and the wind was really tricky. Ian opted to throw a floppy triblade that David Hirsch loaned him. It would only get 7-10 seconds time but was catchable in the wind. Ian was hoping for some catches so he could at least get some time. Well he managed to get 4 catches out of 5 throws. Three of those throws count so he did score some points. Mission 1 accomplished.

Next event was Aussie Round. Ian was warming up which a Binghi Eagle copy but the wind was blowing it around a lot. Stephanie steps in and offered a 30 meter Relay boomerang for Ian to use. He warmed up with it and managed to get very good returns. He decided to go with it. Just before the event Stephanie gave him last minute pointers. He sure had good coaches Saturday. Ian did manage to catch a few and had most throws into the accuracy circle. He was really proud because he was again scoring points.

I left after Aussie Round. My ankles and knees were already stiff and sore. Ian hung in and competed in Endurance, his first time ever. I got a report from him as follows: The warm ups and event itself last quite awhile. I used the white endurance boomerang (modified ABS Trifly) for the event. My first throw was actually with the blue and yellow boom (Binghi Eagle copy), though. However, I messed that first throw up big time (grounder), so I just used the white one from there on out. I got in 12 catches and had great coaching from Tim, David, Rob (yep, he finally made it), Moleman's son? (Kyle?), Tiffany (?), and somebody else. The five minutes went by pretty fast, but I can understand why they call it Endurance. I was pretty out of breath after it.

Ian left at about 8:30 and several events remained. He got sick too, not sure if it was the food, or eating so soon after endurance of if he was coming down with something. I guess we won’t know. He ended up completing 3 events and got valid scores for all. That is good for him. That about wraps it up for what I know about the tournament and Ian’s experiences

David Hirsch arrived at my house around 5pm Friday. I grabbed some boomerangs and we headed to Lehigh University’s Athletic Fields. I didn’t realize how much construction had been done at the fields and that space for throwing boomerangs has gotten less and less.

I had a bag of mostly Bob Burwell boomerangs with me and tried out a lot of them. David had a lot of MTAs with him and a new lightweight long distance boomerang. His one MTA was carbon fiber and had an upside down flight. It was weird as it would flight high, turn over and then hover back upside down. It was almost spooky to watch if you knew the right way it was supposed to fly. David had a nice large Sussex Hook that was fun to throw. I love those big boomerangs and the way they fly.

We got a call from Rob Stewart that he was headed our way. He arrived sort of late but with enough time to get some throws in. We all sort of had a celebration and each threw a nearly 50 year old boomerang made by Ces Burwell. What a great flying boomerang.

As it was getting dark we packed up and headed home to my hose. Then Barb, Rob, David, Ian Guldner and I went to Allentown Brew Works to have dinner and talk boomerangs. After dropping Ian off on the way home we settled in a bit and Rob, David and I sat around talking about boomerangs. It was a nice ending for a great evening.

Saturday was a craft show at East Hills Moravian Church in Bethlehem. I try to do this show every year but instead of selling last year I was a volunteer working the food concession. This year I was back selling boomerangs.

I had a bunch of Roomerangs, Backyarders and PVC invertibles along with my plywood and Lexan boomerangs. I was in a large room at the church with no one across from me for a good distance. That meant I could toss Roomerangs to me heart’s content. Normally people would stop at the table and see the boomerangs. I would ask if they ever saw a boomerang actually return. Most people never have. I would then pick up an Roomerang, and throw it to “their” left. The boomerang would scoot out, circle around them and back into my hands. The best part was watching them try to track it. As they looked to their left, the boomerang was already past and almost in my hands. By the time they looked front again they would see me catch it. Several then asked me to throw again as they stepped aside to see the full flight. It was magic!

Mothers and grandmothers were anxious to buy Roomerangs for the kids as they seemed safe to them. Some also bought Backyarders. A few bought plywood boomerangs. I sold quite a few Roomerangs but at 2/$5 you need to sell lots to make money. It didn’t matter much as I was having fun tossing the Roomerangs and making trick catches. They especially liked it when I caught it on top of my head. Young kids were fascinated by the whole thing.

An especially good moment was when two boys came up to me and said:” we know you. You had the boomerangs at Moravian Days.” Moravian days was an event we did 2 years ago. Barb and I, along with others from our church, spent two days at the event giving out Roomerangs. We had attached labels with our church’s name, mission statement and a Bible verse on the back of each one. All children attending could take a free Roomerang after they we taught how to correctly use them. We had many colors of Sharpies available for the children to decorate their boomerang before going home. Photos from Moravian Days are at: http://family.webshots.com/album/559612050euLQTN

Anyway these boys still had their Roomerangs and loved them. They talked their mom into buying a real boomerang for them this time. They each got a 3mm version of the Fuzzy. It’s nice to see them want to continue after two years. I’ll post a photo from the craft show when our church photographer send them too me. BoomerangDave

Hi and welcome to my new blog. I previously had an online journal on RCN but they shut down all journals in June. After that I started one on Blogspot but I really wasn’t happy with it. A friend recommended WordPress so I decided to try it out. I transferred a few of my posts from the other blog to see how well it worked and how it looked. Well I am happy enough with it that I now moved all the posts since June to this blog. Any post from today forward will be new. For those of you who have never read the old ones, they will all be new. I need to writ about last weekend’s craft so and the Hurricane Patrol Boomerang Tournament is this coming weekend. There are things to write about.

This week I tested some boomerangs I received in trades. I tested them two different lunch hours.

The first ones were from Leonilson Junior in Brazil. He sent two fast catch boomerangs and a quad made from motherboard material (see photo)

I had trouble with the Torando fast Catch. It was grounding out before it got back to me. After a few tries I added some diheadral and had it working fine.

The Infinity Fast catch is fast, really really fast. It smoked right past me. Wow. I need to practice to tame this one. I can see it messing up fingers in the process. Good job Leonilson.

The Quad made from motherboard is a wonder to see and throw. The copper designs of the circuitry make for a beautiful boomerang. The boomerang really works quite well and seemed to handle yesterday’s winds easily. All in all a great batch of boomerangs.

The next batch of boomerangs arrived yesterday from Bruce Bernstein. I wanted to try them today if the rain stayed away. After a light drizzle this morning, the rain stopped and I went to the field at lunch. Here’s the results (no surprises)

I tossed the Burwell Hook copy (photo) first since I have two of Bob’s already. First throw was too laid out. Adjusted to a more vertical throw and got great results. I need to try it against Bob’s originals in my collection.

HAS (Herb Smith) Columbia Hook: Very nice flights, caught it 2nd throw. Wasn’t easy to do as I had the other three booms in my left hand. I didn’t want them on the wet grass.

HAS Samurai: Tossed with a bit of layover this was fine. Would have been more impressive if I didn’t have the Imperial waiting….

HAS Imperial (in photo): I am amazed by the size of this. Didn’t quite expect it and couldn’t wait to throw it. I did the same throw as the Samurai. WOW!!! It looks great in the air. I thought I had enough oomph in it to get it back and I did. I had to take a couple steps back and left but was in position for a catch. Managed to trap it between my left forearm and right hand. Still have the battle scars on forearm. Lots of wood there but it was the only way I could catch something that big with booms in my had. I decided that I needed to leave the field after that catch. Its a good feeling to throw a boomerang one time and catch it right away.

Saturday I had some free time and decided to catch up on making some boomerangs that were promised to friends. I cranked up the sander and proceeded to knock out some polycarbonate boomerangs I had cut out. I think there were 4 HyperVees, 2 PolyVees and 2 Omni. After getting them sanded I switched to a few copies of the old Deep Wood’s trout boomerang made in 3/16 inch plywood.

With everything sanded I headed to the field to test. Everything worked well but I think I really learned something in that throwing session. If I keep the polycarb booms vertical (very little layover) I can get lower longer flights. This is real handy when it is windy. If I lay the boomerangs over, I get higher shorter flights. This should help me in the future when throwing.
Once everything tested out ok I headed back home and painted the boomerangs, along with doing some weekend chores. The HyperVees got the stained glass paint treatment. It’s taken a bit of getting used to the paint but I like the results. The other polycarb booms got primer and colors. I haven’t decided how to paint the trout boomerangs yet. All in all, I got some booms made and can ship some of these this week.

Today was just too beautiful to spend inside during lunch so I headed out to the field with a few boomerangs which needed testing. I had several polycarbonate ones I had recently shaped (see previous post) and 5 long distance boomerangs. When I left the office the wind seemed almost still, so I wasn’t thinking I would get the long distance ones to return.

Arriving at the field (about a mile from the office) I see the flag flying and know I have some wind. I walk out on one baseball field even though there was a parks person there with what I thought was a mower. I proceeded to try the three Omni shapes in lexan. All of them were working quite well if I just laid them over a bit. Then I tried my lexan copy of a Burwell Viper. I was amazed that it had a pretty good flight with full return. I am not sure it is getting the same distance as my plywood one from Bob, but I didn’t have the original with me. Wel, by now the parks person is on the tractor and dragging a grate around the infield dirt to my left. I was pretty sure he was out of the way enough.

Since everything else worked, and it appeared there was at least enough wind to try to test LD, I took the warmup versions out of my bag. These are 90% size Voyagers in 2.6mm (?) G10 material. I like these to warm up with and to practice. Not hard to throw and good to get down the fundamentals of long distance throwing. All of them were working quite well so I tried a few tweaks to get extra distance. I moved a bit more to the right and let loose a throw. The Voyager sailed out and made its turn, heading back on a straight line to me. I mean coming right at me. Like move or be hit! Only thing is that it appeared to be slowing down. I realized then I had two choices, either move or catch it. Well, for some reason I held my ground and it came in on my left side. I turned and did a sandwich catch as it went by. I never moved a step! Woohoo!!!!!! I look over to the ball field and there is the park’s worker applauding me! He saw the whole throw and was amazed. Boy was I pumped up!

I also had two full size Voyagers in 3.3mm G10 to test. I had a good throw with one although a bit rounder flight than good for best distance. The other one I think I threw badly and it did a big left hand turn before crashing. I had to spend 10 minutes walking the field to locate it. It has slipped beneath some grass clumps and wasn’t easy to spot. I think tuning is in order for that one too.

Well there you go, the first time I have ever caught a long distance boomerang. I don’t know if I’ll ever try that again but sometimes when the chance comes, you just have to do it.